Invest in Peace
For
Senator Richard Gordon, who spent two days in Sulu and Basilan last
week, military action must be coupled with “physical, social, and legal
infrastructure in the region.”
In his report to President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, which he made available to the media, Gordon said
residents welcome the gun ban being enforced in Sulu.
“The local
people, while edgy about the recent fighting and the military presence,
are happy about the gun ban,” he said, adding that the Sulu governor
has successfully convinced all elected local executives — mayors and
village chairmen — to report to their posts, not in faraway Zamboanga
City.
“What the people there are complaining about has to do
with the poor provision of basic services like schools, water and
roads, the payment of salaries to teachers, and support for economic
activities,” he said.
Gordon urged Arroyo to finish the circumferential road in Isabela, Basilan and enable faster movement of goods and people.
“[The
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao] is quite simply the poorest in
the country. We can drain local support for extremism and terrorism if
the local people can feel and see vital public and social services and
good governance in their midst. For this kind of capacity-building,
assistance from the national government is a must,” he said.
Gordon,
who is also chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, said his
organization is setting up a full-fledged blood bank for Basilan and
Sulu by upgrading the present blood station into a blood collection
unit. He also said the two provinces have been provided a brand new
four-wheel-drive ambulance each.
“We have installed a
single-side band radio communications [system] in Isabela and Lamitan
towns. We continue to send blood products and supplies and medicine to
Basilan and Sulu. We have augmented our staff with foreign
conflict-trained personnel to help manage response, relief, and
rehabilitation of internally displaced persons and other challenges. We
are implementing water projects in both islands. And we will put up a
health station in Albarca, Basilan, the site of the recent ambush,” he
said.
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